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Thyself and the Doctrine
A Word for the Workman
C. H. Mackintosh
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine [or teaching];
continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself, and them that hear thee" (1 Timothy 4:16).
These are solemn and weighty words for all those who labor in
the Word and doctrine. They were addressed by the inspired
apostle to his beloved son Timothy, and contain most precious
instruction for every one who is called of God to minister in
the assembly, or to preach the gospel. It is assuredly a very
high and holy privilege to be permitted to take part in such a
ministry; but it involves a most serious responsibility; and the
passage just quoted sets before the workman two deeply important
duties — yea, absolutely essential duties, to which he must give
his diligent, constant, prayerful attention, if he would be an
efficient workman in the Church of God — "a good minister of
Jesus Christ". He must take heed to himself; and he must take
heed to the teaching.
First, then, let us consider the solemn clause, "Take heed to
thyself". We cannot adequately set forth the moral importance
of this. It is, of course, important for all Christians; but
for the workman preeminently so; for to such it is here
particularly addressed. He, above all, will need to take heed
to himself. He must guard the state of his heart, the state of
his conscience, his whole inward man. He must keep himself
pure. His thoughts, his affections, his spirit, his temper, his
tongue, must all be kept under the holy control of the Spirit
and Word of God. He must wear the girdle of truth and the
breastplate of righteousness. His moral condition and his
practical walk must answer to the truth ministered, else the
enemy will most assuredly get an advantage over him.
The teacher ought to be the living exponent of what he teaches.
At least this should be his honest, earnest, constant aim. He
should ever keep this holy standard before "the eyes of his
heart". Alas, the best will fail and come short; but where the
heart is true, the conscience tender, and the fear of God and
the love of Christ have their due place, the workman will never
be satisfied with anything short of the divine standard for his
inward state and his outward walk. It will ever be his earnest
desire to exhibit the practical effect of his teaching, and to
be "an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). With
this he should ever remember that "we preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake".
We must never for a moment lose sight of the weighty moral fact
that the teacher ought to live the truth which he teaches. It is
morally dangerous, in the extreme, for a man to teach in public
what he does not live in private — dangerous for himself, most
damaging to the testimony, and injurious to those with whom he
has to do. What can be more deplorable or humiliating than for
a man to be characterized by contradicting in his personal
history and in his domestic life the truth which he utters in
the public assembly? It is simply fearful, and must inevitably
lead to the most disastrous results.
Hence, then, may it be the deep-seated, earnest purpose and aim
of all those who minister in the Word and doctrine to feed upon
the precious truth of God; to make it their own; to live and
move and have their being in the very atmosphere of it; to have
the inward man strengthened and formed by it; to have it
dwelling richly in them, that thus it may flow out in living
power, savor, unction, and fulness to others.
It is a very poor, yea, a very dangerous thing to sit down to
the Word of God as a mere student, for the purpose of preparing
lectures or sermons for other people. Nothing can be more
deadening or withering to the soul. Mere intellectual traffic
in the truth of God, storing up certain doctrines, views and
principles in the memory, and giving them out with a certain
fluency of speech, is at once deluding and demoralizing. We may
be drawing water for other people, and all the while be like
rusty pipes ourselves. How miserable this is!
"If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink", said our
blessed Lord. He did not say "draw". The true spring and power
of all ministry in the Church will ever be found in drinking for
our own souls, not in drawing for others. "He that believeth on
Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water". We must abide close to the eternal
fountain, the heart of Christ; drink deeply, drink continually.
Thus our own souls shall be refreshed and enriched: rivers
shall flow for the refreshment of others, and streams of praise
ascend to the throne and to the heart of God by Jesus Christ.
This is Christian ministry — yea, this is Christianity; all else
is utterly worthless.
We shall now dwell for a few moments on the second point in our
subject, namely, the doctrine, or teaching — for such is the
true force of the original word. And oh, how much is involved
in this! "Take heed to the teaching". Solemn admonition! What
care is needed! What holy watchfulness! What earnest,
prayerful, constant waiting upon God for the right thing to say,
and the right way to say it! God only knows the state and the
need of souls. He knows their capacity. We do not. We may be
offering "strong meat" to those who can only bear "milk", and
thus do positive mischief. "If any man speak, let him speak as
oracles of God". He does not say, "according to the oracles of
God". A man may rise and speak for an hour in the assembly, and
every word he says may be in strict accordance with the letter
of Scripture, and yet he may not at all speak as an oracle of
God — as God's mouthpiece to the people. He may minister truth,
but not the needed truth, at the time.
How solemn is all this! How it makes us feel the seriousness of
the apostle's admonition, "Take heed to the teaching"! How it
sets before us the urgent need of self-emptied dependence upon
the power and guidance of the Holy Ghost! Here lies the
precious secret of all effective ministry, whether oral or
written. We may talk for hours, and write volumes, — and talk
and write nothing unscriptural, — but if it be not in the power
of the Spirit, our words will prove but as sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal, and our volumes as so much waste paper. We
want to lie much at the Master's feet, to drink deeply into His
Spirit, to be in fellowship with His heart of love for the
precious lambs and sheep of His flock. Then shall we be in a
condition of soul to give the portion of meat in due season.
He alone knows exactly what His beloved people really need at
all times. We may perhaps feel deeply interested in some
special line of truth, and we may judge it to be the right thing
for the assembly; but this might be quite a mistake. It is not
the truth which interests us, but the truth which the assembly
needs, that should be given out; and for this we should ever
wait upon our gracious Lord. We should look simply and
earnestly to Him, and say, "Lord, what wouldest Thou have me to
say to Thy beloved people? Give me the suited message for
them". Then would He use us as His channels; and the truth
would flow down from His loving heart into our hearts, and forth
from us, in the power of His Spirit, into the hearts of His
people.
Oh that it were thus with all who speak and write for the Church
of God! What results we might look for! — what power! — what
manifest progress in the divine life! The true interests of the
flock of Christ would then be thought of in all that was spoken
or written. Nothing equivocal, nothing strange or startling,
would then be sent forth. Nothing but what is sound and
seasonable would flow from the lips or the pen. Sound speech
that cannot be condemned, that which is good for the use of
edifying, would alone be sent forth.
May every beloved workman throughout the length and breadth of
the Church of God take home to himself the apostolic admonition,
"Take heed to thyself, and to the teaching ... for in doing this
thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee"!
"Of these things put them in remembrance, testifying earnestly
before the Lord, not to have disputes of words, profitable for
nothing, to the subversion of the hearers. Strive diligently to
present thyself approved to God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy
2:14-15).
Extract from Miscellaneous Writings, by C. H. Mackintosh.
Thyself and the Doctrine
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